View in Browser   Surprising Mind-Body Approaches to Arthritis Pain By Stacey Colino               An occasional twinge of pain in your knees or hips is one thing. But if you’re among the 33 million people in the U.S. who have osteoarthritis (OA), joint aches, swelling, and stiffness are probably an unpleasant fact of life. You probably already know what your options are in the medicine cabinet, but you may not be aware of the mind-body approaches that can have a powerful impact on your pain level and your ability to function. With OA, there’s a strong body-mind connection that goes both ways so doing things that will improve how your body feels will benefit your state of mind and strategies that improve your state of mind can also help with pain, says Jason Theodosakis, M.D., M.P.H., an associate professor in the department of family and community medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine and author of The Arthritis Cure. Given that reality, here are several strategies that can help you control OA pain: Make sleep a priority. Aim for 7 to 9 hours of good quality shut-eye every night. The reason: “Sleep deprivation lowers your pain tolerance,” Dr. Theodosakis says, which is why “people with sleep disturbances have more pain and dysfunction.” What’s more, sleep loss can have a negative domino effect on your behavior: Insufficient sleep can compromise your energy level, making you less likely to exercise; it can also wreak havoc on your hormones, which can rev up your appetite and cause you to make poor food choices, thus increasing your risk of weight gain (which is bad for OA). Ease depression. “Depression is a greater predictor of pain with osteoarthritis than a joint’s actual appearance on an X-ray,” Dr. Theodosakis says. That’s why it’s important to identify if you’re depressed, and if you are, to seek therapy or medication for the sake of your body and mind. “Treating depression is really important for motivation because when it comes to osteoarthritis, it’s not what the doctor does for you, it’s what you do when you get home that matters,” Dr. Theodosakis says. Stay at a healthy weight. If the number creeps up on your scale, the added weight can spell trouble for your joints. “When you walk up and down stairs, the weight you’re carrying is magnified five times on your knees,” explains J. Martin Leland, M.D., an orthopedic sports surgeon at the University of Chicago Medical Center. The good news: Slimming down by lowering your calorie intake and exercising more can dramatically decrease your knee pain and improve your ability to function if you have OA. Consider the alternatives. In a recent review of 16 studies, researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore found that acupuncture demonstrated significant, short-term improvements in OA pain and function. The downside: “Acupuncture often requires a series of sessions and the relief tends to be temporary,” Dr. Theodosakis says. Not a fan of needles? Consider massage and other forms of therapeutic touch. Use your body’s decompression valve. Pain and tension often go hand in hand, so it’s important for people with OA to regularly use stress-relieving techniques such as yoga, meditation, or guided imagery. When researchers at the University of Pittsburgh reviewed the medical literature on mind-body interventions for chronic pain, they found yoga, hypnosis, and progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) were associated with significant reductions in pain, and PMR plus guided imagery was especially helpful for OA pain. Try to prevent injuries. Wear the right footwear for your workouts—walking shoes for walking, cross-trainers for cardio machines, tennis shoes for tennis—because the structure and stability of sports-specific shoes helps prevent stress from being transmitted from your feet to your knees, hips, and spine, Dr. Leland notes. “Also, be careful about how you exercise—use proper posture and techniques.” If you’re prone to joint pain, choose a more forgiving surface (by walking on a treadmill or track, rather than a road) or opt for low-impact exercises like swimming, cycling, or using an elliptical trainer.  Stay socially connected. When you’re in pain, you may not feel like being social. But the sense of connection you get from spending time with supportive people can distract you from pain, lift your spirits, and broaden your outlook. What’s more, a study at Arizona State University found that daily increases in positive encounters with other people were associated with less fatigue among women with OA. “When you have a strong sense of connection, purpose, and direction in life,” Dr. Theodosakis explains, “it’s as though the osteoarthritis gets trivialized”—and that’s a good thing.       ADVERTISEMENT   Manage Your Subscription You are subscribed to receive special offers at omsstraffic.5454@blogger.com | Unsubscribe or visit http://www.ivillage.com/funnels/9 © 2011 iVillage, Inc. All rights reserved. | 75 9th Avenue, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10011 | Privacy Policy | Email Help